Sketches - Drawing process and execution

Hello everyone!

Today we are having an special post, where I will finally open up to you about my drawing style and show you a close look into what I have in store and what is always on the works with very few spoilers about the story... with just a few characters.

On this post I am going to be showing step by step my process on drawing characters; before we begin let me just say that I am not going to depict a WHOLE class of art or anything... I am just taking my liberty to show my style of drawing, share it with you and maybe just pass on some of my knowledge to you if you are either interested in drawing yourself or if you are interested in knowing how I do it:

1.

The very first thing I draw is a quick sketch of the character´s position, for example the picture on the left, I don´t waste time with details like fingers or even eyes or hair. Many may be familiar with this, this is called "Blocking" is basically that I draw the characters skeleton before going with the details...

Of course there is no point in drawing a character if there is no real cool pose, I looked for the most cool looking reference I can find that somewhat matches what I want to have; this isn't always the case however, I sometimes just quickly place the pose I picture in my head into the paper in extreme rough (like the example I am using) and extremely fast before the idea fades (and that happens more often than you think, specially if one gets distracted) I don´t tend to see it has often while drawing has much has I just look at it for long enough to know what I want, I start making a quick sketch, take quick looks to the reference (if I have one) then I go back to keep drawing the sketch.

Last, I draw the lines of the head to know where my character is going to be facing, is a simple reference that helps me be clear if I stop working for a while and then I come back, has well has being a guideline for the eye levels and other facial features.

In some cases I draw the head lines first, but I tend not to because sometimes I might want to have the character looking in another direction or in another way (maybe having the head slightly tilted to the side or etc), has a personal reference when I draw the head I always have the character´s head locked by the chin; I paint the chin by using a slight triangular position downwards, for me, is easy to pick and know where is the head looking and when the sketch is done, I can just ignore it if I feel that the new head position works better.

2.

Starting to give shape to the characters is never easy to do (at least to me), is when I get the felling that my idea is not really picturing in paper, but I have learned in time that is better to just let your brain work out it´s image before jumping to conclusions; my first step is the face, this is a very delicate one to preform because we all care a lot about getting the face of the characters right first, starting with the eyes.

I do the basic face with simple lines, by that I mean one singular line and not remarking them has is a costumed, it is after I get the basics out that I draw the full eye, same with the rest of the face, I don't over-exagerate the faces has you can see, is something I watched during animation classes: basically the simplest designs are easier to work with, I do go into further detail after I see that there can be more to be added.

After I complete drawing the face I finish the complete head, starting by the inner parts of the head and then providing to the outers, example: I first did the eyes before the hair in front, same with the hood... The idea is to avoid has much clash between element has possible to focus on the one element before advancing, if I did the hair first, I would have problems making the character's eyes later because they would be clashing heavily.

The body is the next part to do, the torso is the first thing I fallow with after the head (sometimes i can start with the extremities, like the arms or legs depending on the position of the characters), I don´t fallow the blue lines of the blocking, I draw the visible sides of the torso and indeed draw the whole body part. Same applies to the extremities, I fallow the lines and place the body part into it´s place...

In general overview, I finish the face (eyes, nose, etc), proceed to the torso, use the shoulders has connection to do the arms, go down to the hip and use it to connect the legs... same with the feet; even if in the sample I am using I didn't draw them.

3.

After the basic draw is placed with graphite I can see the overall complete picture,  but it´s not really "done" where the draw is clearly distinguishable from the blocking lines there is one more thing left and that is the lines being notable. I proceed to remark the lines with a "Uni-ball Eye micro":

I take this part very slowly because basically one simple screw-up can mean a whole sheet of work wasted (SPECIALLY if talking about the comic pages).

I start by remarking the face (the eyes first to be more specific), much like if I was drawing the character from scratch, just a single and unique trace of the pencil is more than enough to remark the line and make it much more clear to the eyes and easy to depict the image. I sometimes pass the pen twice if only I feel like the line needs to be remarked or it´s not very clear; the reason why I try to avoid it is because it can damage the paper.

This helps immensely to the overall look on the draw, not only do I feel it helps remark the character, but it also helps with the post-work that comes after, the photo-shop process witch is another topic and slightly more complicated.

In time , people develop their own character models, styles and even perspectives... my way of doing things is not the ultimate way, neither is it the most innovative nor am I trying to convince people of anything here; truth of the matter is that my style is something that like many other people who do this same sort of thing, I have evolve my own style and found new ways to improve my style by experimentation and by advice from other experts of the matter

I am sure that if you practice long enough everyday, you can create and become a master of your own style!

-Practice makes perfect-

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Here are other examples of the same process:

    

 

 

 

 

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Well, that´s it for this post!

I will try to make another post has soon has possible related to the comic´s pages is rough and the placement process, has well has the process of drawing in photo-shop...Thank you again for reading and stay tuned for more updates!

           PS: I will work on more movie and game reviews soon

Terminator Salvation Movie Review

Terminator Salvation was released in 2009 and directed by McG (or his real name; Joseph McGinty Nichol)... with mixed reception but I gotta admit for the kind of movie that it is, is not really bad but the problems that it has are indeed notable.

The story of Salvation is set in the future during the war between the human resistance and Skynet; John Connor (played by Christian Bale) fights has a soldier of the resistance and leader of a group of soldiers has well, in the middle of the war... John discovers that Kyle Reese (the men his mother mentioned would save her life in the events of the original terminator) has been found by another man called Marcus and being forced to make an alliance with him to save not only Kyle but all the other humans captured by the machines before they are destroyed not only by the machines but by the resistance itself, who is willing to pay the price to "end the war".

On one hand I am glad that they decided to go with the setting in the future... during the core war that was the backstory and relevancy of the first trilogy; the future was this big mysterious entity that threatens everybody and I think that the fact they choose these moment in the timeline makes the movie by itself already an unique addition into the franchise. On the other hand I see plenty of missed opportunities, there is no real full scale battle that showcases the war that is looked like in the flash backs of the originals, there are indeed big epic moments with fun action scenes but none of them really get across the feeling that make me think "Oh yeah this is totally the kind of thing that John and Kyle had gone trough in this war" is just a bit underwhelming on that regard.

The storytelling in this movie didn't really bothered me either... at least not has much has some of the story elements presented in Terminator 3, I can still see circumstances that could have happen to make the sequence of events play out better on screen, for example: how about instead of John using Kyle has an excuse to tell the HQ of the Resistance to stand down their attack on Skynet, he just tell them another excuse? how about something related to their new found EMP weapon... maybe? I mean what makes John think that they would really step down by talking about Kyle like he is the sole reason they should stop like he is "the only hope" HQ doesn't know nor do they care... I get why John wants to save Kyle but there are other things he could have said to stop them! Not to mention some of the dialogue felt unnatural, this mostly came across when they tried to force feed us with events from the first movies instead of just having them play out naturally; this really took me away from my immersion.

The final confrontation against the T-800 was well set up (even if there were a few inconsistencies in-between the reveal), I like that they used the same technology of "Tron Legacy" by making a CG of Arnold´s face on the terminator trying to kill John in the last act, even if it lasted just a little while before it was blown off it was a good nod to the spirit of the T-800 character itself... I also like how they played the recordings that Sarah Connor left for her son at the end of T1 (the same lines said by Linda Hamilton herself), also a great nod to the originals.

Overall, I can say that while there are a few stumbles along the way, Terminator Salvation is a fun movie that should have made a bigger effort into capturing the spirit of the original movies, but I still welcome it has a terminator entry.

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That puts an end to the marathon of Terminator movies, at the point of this review there is one more terminator movie underway named "Terminator Genisys"; said to "reset" the timeline of the terminator series (basically acting has a sequel, prequel and reboot)... I don´t know what to feel about this movie; but I have low expectations for it, I would have been happier if it was set in the future continuing the events of salvation (leaving the time travel concept behind). I have no right to give a final verdict has we haven´t seen the final product itself so all we can do is wait and see. For now I can say this: I don´t like that we are going back in time to "save a Connor" again, I don´t like that they are "rewriting" the events of the originals and I don´t like that they are choosing new actors to play the original characters (except Arnold of course).

Terminator 1 and 2 will always remain the classics in my book and I believe it is for many more people, terminator 3 and salvation are underwhelming but is in no way bad movies... they can´t match the brilliant execution of the first two but they work out has fun movies, James Cameron closed the book very tightly in T2 and Hollywood will always try to milk the franchise no matter what instead of just leaving it alone... looks like the terminator will always be back.

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Few... I am very sorry for the long time I took to write this post, but the last few weeks I have really been pushing a lot my personal project, in fact that is what the next posts are going to be about... for the next entries I am going to have updates on some sketches I have worked on has well has sharing the working progress.

Stay tuned for more (original) content soon!

Bioshock Infinite Critique by Matthewmatosis

All credit goes to Matthewmatosis

Visit his youtube channel



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Terminator Salvation Movie Review is still coming

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Movie Review

This film in the franchise seems like the one movie that everybody has a particular problem with and for good reason... but despite these grasps, I am certain that is not has bad of a movie has it may look on first watch.

Taking place several years after the events of Terminator 2; we now fallow an aged John Connor who lives hidden from the world and avoiding any kind of technology, because the machines were unable to track Connor in that time so they decide to target the other high ranking members of the resistance instead, a new T-X model is sent to destroy them, including John´s secong in command and future wife, Katherine Brewster. Again a terminator is sent to the past to protect John and Kate from the T-X and ensure they survive the impending Judgement Day.

Let me first focus on the bad things; starting by the fact they they pretty much brake the well put together ending of terminator 2, where the message was that the future is the one we create and we shape our selves, terminator 3 says "Nope" and says that judgement day is inevitable in a very dumb explanation that pretty much certifies that there really wasn´t enough tough put while writing coming across has lazy. Another thing is the T-X, she is not has much of a danger has the T-1000 from the last movie who was liquid metal and almost seemed indestructible; the T-X comes across has an improved version of the Terminator from the first movie, the fact that she has notable battle scars is proof of how inferior she is has a threatening villain, she is indeed more powerful than the regular terminator sent to protect John and Kate but is nowhere near has dangerous has the T-1000.

John himself is also kinda lame, the kid he seemed to be in the last film dozen´t seem at all into what he became in this movie at all, I don´t believe that the rebel Connor from T2 would become what he is in T3 at all; I would have made him more autorative and less of a mess, I would have even made Kate similar to John (at least in some ways) to make the chemistry between the two more believable... There just are elements on the movie that has a whole are disjointed compared to the films that came before it.

On the bright side, I can see some of the things I see in this movie working in and on their own if they were better explained... fans of the series have talked about interesting possibilities of how they can make a T3 possible, this movie could have had does and maybe work with it´s own elements, but has I stated before, there needed to be better writing and thought involved for it to work. How about saying that Skynet was underdevelopment by the US army long before Cyberdine studied the terminator from the first movie? Explain that the original terminator has design by Skynet under the image of humanity? Why bother to explain John and Kate´s relationship? Why not just let it unfold naturally? Why can´t the creation of Skynet be more investigated? These are just some of the elements the writers could have asked themselves to make the story more coherent to the overall stablished timeline...

To be fair, I have seen far worst 3rd parts in movie series than this... I see unexplored possibilities here that could have made the movie more "Above average" than it is, but I still believe it could have been far worst, the action scenes are a lot of fun to watch and there is indeed plenty of attention to detail...

Terminator 3 is an average sequel when compared to the first two, is an average film that fails to catch up to the brilliance of it´s predecessors.

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In the next part we´ll look into Terminator Salvation, I hope you join me then and stay tuned for more updates on my project.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day Movie Review

If "The Terminator" is an extraordinary stand alone film; then Terminator 2 is an extraordinary sequel that does exactly what any good sequel should and that is expand upon the story stablished by it´s predecessor and go forward with it´s stablished characters.

The story on paper sounds very similar to that of the original: Two terminators are sent back in time to find John Connor (the future leader of the human resistance) when he was still a child... one to kill him and the other to protect him, the T-1000 is the one sent to kill John being made of liquid metal and the other one to protect him is the same from the last movie (and played by Arnold himself); right from the get go you can see that the good terminator is put in an extreme disadvantage.

The similarities shatter immediately after you start to see the film... and it all comes from the characters themselves, much like in the original movie, the characters we see they all go through an arc changing by the end, thus making the characters that more interesting: John Connor starts has a brat who brakes the law and misbehaves who by the end becomes changes into a more ethical and mature young boy, Sarah Connor is seen has a mad woman by society but is sure that the future of humanity is doomed and there is no salvation but by the end she relies that there is indeed hope and that the future is not set in stone... even the terminator changes; he starts has a machine programed to be nothing more than the protector of little John but ultimately realize the valor of human life and becomes the closes thing to a father John has ever had... all of this elements make for a great ride you feel you had with this characters.

Terminator 2 is not only a well written story with rich characters, but also an action movie with well directed and well passed action sequences that are full of adrenaline; that is exactly what I expect to see in any action packed film... but the real secret ingredient is the fact that these characters are all contributing to the story itself and the action scenes pouch that character development forward has well. The main theme playing in the beginning and at the end is one that will stick with you long after the film is done... by the end the theme becomes a symbol of greatness that will have you feel that you were just through a great journey.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day is one of those movies that I can´t think I have any problems with at all... to me is one of does perfect films, some may point out continuation issues, but regardless of witch they are, I doubt there are any that would downgrade my thoughts on the overall movie. Is just a great film and one that I am very glad that I watch and one I will sure continue to rematch in the future... if you haven´t seen this movie then go see it right now because to me is one movie that you MUST watch!

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We still have Terminator 3 and Salvation left to go through of the terminator movies... then I will give my thoughts on the upcoming "Terminator Genesis"

Stay tuned for updates!

The Terminator Movie Review

The Terminator is a science fiction action thriller by director James Cameron... this movie is great and I say that with full awareness of the other movies, making it an excellent stand alone film.

The story fallows Sarah Connor, a young woman who seems to be a very unlucky girl, with a painful dinner job, duchy boyfriend but still puling through life with what she has... but her whole life is put upside down when she begins to be hunted by a dangerous killer android, a terminator, sent from the future to assassinate her before she gives birth and trains the future savior of humanity in a war against machines that nearly eradicate humans; but she is not alone, a soldier from the future called Kyle Reese is sent to the same time to protect Sarah from the dangerous machine and help her survive and discover her potential has a survivor.

What makes this movie so excellent is Sarah herself, her evolution from unlucky dinner waiter to badass survivor is masterfully executed and it works because by the time you reach the end you see how she has changed... this is called an arc; she changes by the end of the film and makes her a much more fascinating character that you feel have gotten to know by the end. The terminator (played by the famous Arnold Schwarzenegger) was the perfect pick to play the threatening killer android, is all thanks to just how dangerous he looks... Arnold himself has a body builder is the kind of men I would´t mess with so he played that part just right, a fun fact: originally Arnold was casted to play Kyle Reese in the movie, I can only imagine that has a bad idea, thankfully Cameron figured he was better playing the terminator, he was right indeed.

The special effects on the terminator are also very well done, is all stop-motion animation that blends perfectly with the robotic movements of the terminator for the last chase of the film, it also uses this opportunity to play with the spectator with the illusion of the monster being dead but coming back to stalk the protagonist some more... the high pitch music is something that I would hate because of how annoying it is, but for this scene it really works because this is at the point where you start to feel like Sarah just can´t catch a break but also kinda frightening it is knowing how hard it really is to kill a terminator. It also has plenty of 80´s vibe to it (it was released the same year after all), but is not shoving it into your face, thus making it more like a time warp experience.

Is very hard to talk about these movies if you haven´t seen them, I am very pro watching films that are good, and The Terminator is definitely on that category, but if you have, you probably are familiar with what I am talking about...

If you haven´t seen this movie then you are missing on one of the best sci-fi action thrillers of all time; the story is strong with excellent action scenes and great use of special effects... if you have a chance check it out, it holds perfectly well even after all these years; chances are that I will continue to revisit this film in the future. I have no doubt that this movie is one of does that ages well.

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Terminator 2: Judgement Day will be up next so stay tuned for it!

Happy New Year 2015!

Hello everybody!

2014 is now behind us and with it, all the memories of the good and the bad things we went through... some of us may feel that we didn't entirely achieve something or gotten somewhere, but is important to remember that we must pursue our goals, no matter how far fetch or impossible they seem to feel.

Here´s to you all that in 2015 can be a productive year and one of success!

Love and Peace <3

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All right! time for a few updates...

Up next I have planed another marathon of movies to review and looking up to what we have in the huge pile I have decided to look into the always awesome "Terminator" franchise, I think is a great way to start the year with some content for you guys to be looking forward to.

I have some big plans on where to move forward my work including maybe a whole new website, one that is more mine and find a better way for you guys to check out my movie reviews, game reviews and more... and the comic of course.

For does of you curious about it it´s still on the works, I will keep regular updates on it´s process, I am now 73 pages in! (in rough...) and I still have a long way to go; specially because of a few re-writes I had to go trough for the sake of the story...

Stay tuned guys! We have a long year ahead of us! ;)